Davisville

Almost anyone listening today is likely to have an opinion about the topic — namely, how well are bicycles, powered scooters, e-bikes, vehicles and pedestrians co-existing in Davis? In terms of safety, courtesy, observing the rules … and what are the current laws for powered scooters and bikes? Probably not what you think, and the Legislature is looking at changing them.

Two people have been hit and killed while riding bicycles in or near Davis so far in 2026. We likely all have stories of seeing drivers who only slow for a stop sign, powered motorbikes in the bike lane as they zip past cars, or people walking into the street while focused on their screens. Hopefully, we’ve seen people make room for each other on the streets, too.

Today we talk about city statistics, the emergence of e-bikes and e-scooters, the laws so far, what the city is doing, and what individuals can do, with Davis Police Chief Todd Henry, and Ryan Chapman, the city’s director of public works engineering and transportation. 

There are lots of ways to get to know someone you like, lots of ways to date. What if your outing consisted of you painting pictures together with your friend, partner, perhaps prospective spouse? Call it a paint date.

The Davis Arts Center offers a Paint Date workshop as one of its events this spring, on May 16. It’s a clever idea for getting people to think about taking up a paint brush in front of an easel, plus there’s a social side. What do people paint, when they have an hour to paint something, in the presence of a friend? Are there any stories here?

Today on Davisville we talk with the Paint Date instructor, Roshelle Carlson, sometimes known as Miss Rainbow, and Sam King, executive director of the arts center. We’ll also hear about what else the center is doing this spring, and how it’s doing in this, its 67th year. King says they’ve come back strong from the pandemic, and she explains how they did it.

The new economic development strategic plan for Davis might be an obscure document, but its pages include interesting goals for Davis and observations about the city, such as insights into how college students shape the city’s economy.

Today on Davisville we talk about the plan with Katie Yancey, the city’s economic development director since 2024. Customer service is a core concern. She wonders if Davis has “gotten sort of stuck in a cultural narrative of slow growth [that] has awkwardly translated into bad customer service. And that’s really the question … I’ve posed in this plan, and my conclusion is yes.” That doesn’t mean Davis must change its character -- more like do a better job of managing it.

We also talk about the city’s strengths, vacant commercial space, downtown, the city's reputation at UC Davis, and how this new economic plan differs from prior city efforts. Those earlier proposals focused more on a real estate strategy, she says, while this plan assesses “what we currently do and how to do it better.”

The photo shows part of a 1991 promotional map of downtown Davis created by Town Graphics of Woodinville, Wash.

After years of dwindling news coverage in Yolo County, two regional news outlets — the Sacramento Bee and Abridged, a news source started by Sacramento public TV station KVIE in 2025 — have each launched free Yolo weekly newsletters this year, using stories written by journalists assigned to cover the county.

Today we talk with one of the reporters, Daniel Hennessy of Abridged, about how he finds and reports stories, and why Yolo is now getting more attention. He plans to cover the entire county, and his topics so far include the respite center on L Street in Davis, a proposed downtown entertainment zone in Winters, the county’s budget deficit, and fly-fishing on Putah Creek.

Related program from September 2025: '"We talk with Benjy Egel, food editor for Abridged, a major new source of regional news," plus links to Yolo news at the Bee and Abridged

(The photo shows rural Yolo County west of Davis on a bright winter’s day in 2020.)